Gary Reed passed away today, far too young at the age of sixty.
I never go to meet Gary, but we exchanged a hell of a lot of correspondence over the last 18 months since Caliber Comics took on The Sixsmiths. He was blunt, honest, smart, and completely genuine and I felt truly privileged to be a part of Caliber’s revival.
As I have mentioned before, Caliber was the first company I ever tried to brace for publication, back in the 1990s when I was a punk teenager, so it was a real thrill to see my own work come out with the nib logo on it last year, and indeed to receive correspondence from Gary directly.
As many greats as Gary published at Caliber (James O’Barr, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Vince Locke, Brian Bendis, John McCrea, Guy Davis, David Mack, and tons of others), he was a writer of no small talent himself. Gary’s Deadworld books predated the zombie craze and the Walking Dead by more than a decade. His Renfield graphic novel integrated into Stoker’s Dracula novel with no visible seams. Baker Street and Saint Germaine are also seminal works. Gary did things his own way, and at his best that put him 20 years ahead of his peers. The comics industry needs more like him.
Gary is survived by a wife and four daughters. My condolences to his family and friends. I wish I;d had the opportunity to know him better.